Hooked on a Feeling
by Wall Hicks007
Summary: PG for Smoking~lol. Ne who...this is quite fun. I know, I suck at summaries, but just read the fic. R/R OR DIE!!!
1. Default Chapter

A/N: Blah...Blah.Blahdy.Blah.Blah! That's how all my teachers sound now that it's almost the end of the year. lol. Ok, that's all the normal crap from me, your beloved author. This is my first Newsies Fic, so don't be too hard on me. Ok, here's the pairings: Crutchy/OC, Race/OC, Davey/OC, Denton/OC, Kid Blink/OC, and last, Jack/Sara. I know, lots of OC's but I'm really bored, I'm writing this in Algebra after a test, yargh!. Ok peeps! Now R/R!  
  
"I don't understand why someone would do that! I mean, on purpose of course. Don't laugh at me, I'm serious! Who in their right mind would date a Manhattan Newsie? Sara would apparently, and the worst thing of all, he's the head of the Newsies, Jack Kelly! He's the most pigheaded, sex-driven Newsie out there! He has a new girl every Tuesday or something like that, it's like a cycle. And she thinks- Hey! Where are you going? Come back here! Oh fine! Give up on the youth of America!" People just don't care today. Oh, I'm Rhoslyn Mahala Rosarialini, yeah it's weird, but most everybody just call me Rose. Oh, crap, there goes another one! These Manhattan Newsies have the tendency to whistle under their breath as a lady passes by. Growing up most of my life in Brooklyn, but not acquiring the accent, you think I'd be used to this, but Brooklyn Newsies just walk right up to you and say, 'Hiya, goil. Will you entertain a Newsie on a lonely night?' I should be used to it by now shouldn't I? Every corner, how many frikin' Newsies are there? Finally! Home! It's not much, but I love it. I live with 3 of my friends, Cherry, Mai (pronounced Mya), and Hana. Those aren't there real names of course, but that what they preferred to be called. Cherry's real name was Caden McGuffard, Mai was Makaila Johansen, and Hana was Hafwen Jacobs. We all have crazy names, so we use our nicknames; they're much easier to remember.  
  
"Did youse guys miss me?" said a Brooklyn voice that I know as my best friend.  
  
"Cherry, you came back. I thought for sure you'd be gone this time, rats," She rolled her eyes at me. You see, Cherry had this habit of disappearing for random intervals of time, and then she'd show up again, with clothes, or something like that, it was kinda her job. We all had our jobs, and Cherry was the Criminal, she would steal things from different homes, that Hana and Mai scoped out. Hana is the prettiest, tallest, and kindest of us all, but not the smartest. That was my title. I was a 1st class pilferer, or pick-pocket, whatever, now that may not sound like a thing to be proud of, but I was. I had survived 16 years of life as a pick-pocket. 12 of those years with Cherry, she came out here when she was 4, she was born in Michigan, but moved here when her mother killed herself, her mom was a drug addict, and a drunkard, not a great life. A thunder of steps came down from the loft. Our home had a living room, 3 bedrooms, a loft, 4 closets, and a kitchen. It was in the bad part of town, so it was 'easy to acquire' or so said Cherry, who got the house for us, never ask how, but there is a blood stain on the carpet of the loft, and the police haven't found the body yet, like I said, don't ask.  
  
"Cherry, your back, great. What did you rack up for us today Rose?" Hana was running down the stairs talking at a hundred miles an hour. She always did that, never a slow moment for her, she hated to sit still, and hated to be held down for too long. She always asked who got what, it was her thing. Cherry just shook her head at Hana, she's used to her by now.  
  
"43 bucks and 45 cents, and a nice watch that can be pawned for at least 85 bucks," I emptied my pockets on the table in front of the couch where Cherry was lounging. Even though I was a girl, I wore pants and baggy shirts, it was easier to hide things in those. We all wore junk like that, except Cherry, who preferred dresses. The pants were easier to get around in, than that other crap we were supposed to wear. I don't understand why women subject themselves to corsets and skirts it's crazy!  
  
"Why? Might I ask why can't I get a legal painting job? You people make me a criminal; it's not fair. Do you realize how many people gave me looks when I was walking over here? Way too many, and don't even get me started on the Newsies. I even saw Jack checking out two women on the street, I don't know what Sara sees in him, he's so sex-centered!" The voice was Blaze, her real name was Tanya Blaze Zambioni, she was an artist who couldn't catch a break. She helped Cherry commit her criminal acts, by painting the pictures that Mai or Hana describe to her by their photographic memories, and then Cherry would steal the real painting and replace it with the fake one.  
  
"Did he touch them?" Mai asked coming in from her bedroom.  
  
"Of course not, Jack wouldn't do that to me! He loves me! I can't believe you'd say something like that about Jack!" Sara randomly wanders into our home, and she'd come at the wrong time. Cherry and I walked outside when she came in; she and Blaze would be at it for at least an hour.  
  
"So where did you go this time?" I asked as we were walking down the street toward the center of Manhattan.  
  
"Brooklyn, I decided to go see some old, old friends. You remember Donavan Conolon? He's head of the Brooklyn Newsies, and he's now 'Spot'"  
  
"No way! Don is now a Newsie? No way. I don't believe that our old neighbor is now the Spot of Brooklyn!" It was crazy. Don, Cherry, and I had grown up together. He was the greatest guy on earth, a looker too, Cherry and he dated for a few days, then realized that two crooks could never be happy together. As we walked we continued to talk, we ended up by the Newsie boarding house. There were a whole bunch of Newsies standing outside. One of them, the one with an eye patch pointed us out to the other ones. One was smoking a cigar, he whistled at us. The one with an eye patch yelled, "Hey sweetie, what's goin' on?" He elbowed the one with the cigar, and they walked over to us. Cherry told me to stop, her skirts attracted the boys, not to mention her rack.  
  
"Hey, look Blink, it's two goils, but that one looks more like a boy." I was steamed. I decided to have a little fun with him. I also decided to leave one-eye to Cherry, as she seemed to be plotting.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't a Newsie. A Manhattan Newsie, at that, I heard that they're the worst kissers, how bout' you Cherry?"  
  
Cherry looked up from her plotting, and grinned deviously. She had finalized her plot of destruction, "Yeah, I heard that too, Rose."  
  
"Gee, Cherry, what do you think about them?" I said circling the guy with the cigar. Both guys had straightened up when we talked about their kissing.  
  
"I dunno. I mean, compared to Brooklyn's picks, they ain't much, are they?" She walked closer to one-eyed one, MUCH closer. Squinting at him, ignoring the whistles she was receiving from the other newsies, she circled him. I tried to stifle a laugh-she was doing the "Vulture" plot. Cherry tended to have many plots that she formulated in the dead of night to use for situations like these, and the minute she told us girls, we would name them. Stopping squarely in front of one-eye, her hand rose up to his face in a caressing gesture and-snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and kissing him on the cheek. Placing it in her mouth and breathing in the smoke, she walked off, swaying her hips in a way both she and I had perfected one day while waiting for Mai and Hana to come back from scoping out houses. Needless to say, there was much whistling.  
  
The guy with one eye was dumbfounded. He and the guy I was looking at were looking at each other. The guy with the cigar looked at me, I smiled cheekily. Taking my chance, I placed a kiss on cigar-smoker's mouth, taking the cigar from the burning end, when I turned it around; I blew a smoke ring in his face, and followed Cherry.  
  
Waving cheekily, I trotted off trying to catch up to Cherry, thinking, "Cuban-wonder how a Newsie got his hands on this.' When we got back Mai and Hana asked us where we got the smokes, and we just smiled and walked off.  
  
~*~  
  
(A/N: In 3rd person. This is at the Newsie Boarding House, Race and Kid Blink Just walked in form the ordeal with Cherry and Rose)  
  
The guys walked back into the Boarding house. Jack was perched upon the counter, smoking a cigarette and playing cards with Crutchy. Race and Blink walked in surrounded by guys laughing their heads off.  
  
"What happened out there? It had to be pretty funny to get these guys laughing so hard. So tell me, what was it?" no one answered, Race and Blink were the only ones not laughing, so Jack questioned them, "Race, what happened?" Race shook his head and relayed his tale of the two girls who stole his cigar, and Blink's cigarette.  
  
"Well, sounds like you've got some girls out there that might be good for you," said Jack trying not to laugh. Race hit him in the arm and headed up to the roof. It's where he went when he needed to think about stuff. The guys had been laying it on Race kinda hard since he hasn't dated since this chick he met while selling papes. She was the love of his life, and he didn't know what to do when she dumped him for some rich guy. It wasn't fair, Jack had Sara and he deserved someone as well.  
  
"Race? You okay man? You look sick," Crutchy was leaning out of the window under him.  
  
"Yeah Crutch, I'm fine. Just thinkin' 'bout Janey. I'll be down in a second," Race tried to smile to assure Crutchy, but it looked more like he was about to choke. Crutchy just shook his head and leaned back into the window. (A/N: this would be a good place for Race to sing his own song, but I'm not good at writing lyrics, so make up your own!()  
  
Race climbed back into the room, lit up a cigar, and prepared to whip Jack at poker, and get up the next day for another boring day. Or so he thought.  
  
A/N: Okay, that's all for Ch.1 you'll get more as soon as you review. Now, REVIEW!!!! 


	2. Dinner anyone?

(Rose's POV)  
  
Waking up, after a night of odd dreams of a cigar-smoking newsie, I heard a shriek.  
  
Walking into our living room, the immediate difference in the décor was Cherry, standing on a chair. When she saw me, she breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Rose! Can you get that? The roach-it's over on the table. I hate roaches. AHHHHHH! It looked at me! ROSE! HELP!"  
  
Yes, believe it or not, the almighty Cherry was scared to death of roaches. So it usually fell to me to do the bug-squashing duties.  
  
SQUISH! Twitch, twitch, twitch. SPLAT! Stillness.  
  
"Thank you so much, Rose. Here, I'll get some paper and throw it out the window-can't use the newspaper, haven't read it yet. Er, Rose, can I use some of the toilet paper? Thanks."  
  
Her poor future husband. But, I'm sure that he would have to be besotted to even consider marrying Cherry. Not that she wasn't pretty. Oh, I haven't described everyone to you yet, have I? Well, first time for everything.  
  
I'm quite tall for a girl, about 5'9, and blonde. However tall I might be, most of the newsies still tower over me. But it's nothing compared to poor Cherry. While I'm tall, she's at the opposite end of the height spectrum. At 4'10, she would be mistaken for someone much younger if it wasn't for her figure. She was quite, er.well endowed in the chest area. And with her hips, child-bearing wouldn't be a difficult task. With brown hair and bright blue eyes, most people mistook us for sisters.  
  
Hana was about my height, thin and willowy, with long, shiny brown hair and brown eyes. With her clear complexion and good taste, she usually got the most whistles. Mai was also quite pretty, with chocolate skin and brown eyes and black hair. They were best friends, much like Cherry and me.  
  
Finally, there was Blaze. The rest of us were around 18 or 19, except for me-I was the youngest at 17. However, Blaze was our newest and oldest addition, a down-on-her-luck artist, and 25. With light brown hair in unmanageable ringlets and green eyes, she wasn't living with us, but might as well have been- she spent most of her free time with us.  
  
Our home wasn't much, and Cherry and I had to share a room, but it was cozy. Hana and Mai couldn't sleep in the same room-they would bicker and end up waking the entire house. We stored our loot in the loft. The kitchen wasn't big, so we ate in the large living room. The motley collection of chairs each had their own story. There was the couch, which Cherry and I had to work together to get out of a dumpster, Cherry's pink plaid chair (she had stolen the fabric, frame, and batting, and Hana had to make it for her), Hana's pile of cushions (she doesn't like chairs much), Mai's wooden chair, and my stool. The low table in the middle of the room housed our chess set and collection of plates, while a large bookshelf in the corner displayed our impressive collection of books.  
  
Walking into the room Cherry and I shared, hoping to get some more sleep, I was struck by how little we had in it. There were a few things that Cherry and I had stolen that we had wanted to keep. For Cherry, there was a stuffed flamingo and a tennis set. For me, there was a blank journal and a pocket Bible. There was a closet that housed our clothes, and two beds, and Cherry's music box and pistol. I wasn't allowed to touch any of Cherry's things that she hadn't stolen. That meant her music box. Nobody ever touched her pistol any way-it was temperamental and went off at random times when someone was holding it. Well, except Cherry, of course. She never played the music box, except when she was extremely depressed. Which had been exactly one time since I had met her.  
  
Of course, I had my own little thing I won't let anyone touch: my mother's journal. Only Cherry even knows of it's existence, and she's only seen it once. I remember very little about my parents, except that they were nice and they hugged me a lot. Our apartment building burned down, and took them with it. I spent exactly one month in the orphanage, before deciding that this wasn't the place for me, and began living on the streets. That's where I met Cherry, then Mai, then Hana.  
  
I was almost drifting off to sleep, when Cherry came bouncing into the room. She wasn't a morning person at all, except on Saturdays.crap. Today was Saturday. That meant Cherry dragging me out to Central Park to play tennis. I usually wouldn't care, but I really didn't want to meet up with the newsies again.  
  
Cherry wouldn't be put off, though. Finally, sopping wet from the glass of water Cherry had poured on me, I dragged out of bed and looked in the closet.  
  
And scowled. I was sleeping in my pants, so that meant I would have to wear one of my two dresses.  
  
I hate Cherry sometimes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Walking to the park, towing balls and rackets, Cherry and I went over to "our" corner. The dirt was packed down hard enough for the ball to bounce on, and trees shaded it.  
  
"Alrighty, I'm gonna bounce the ball on the racket for a few minutes-we haven't practiced since last week." Cherry called to me. I nodded: I should do the same.  
  
After a few minutes of that, we heard a voice call out, "MAYOR CAUGHT CHEATN' ON WIFE"  
  
Cherry stiffened as the voice came closer, still going on about the headline and occasionally muttering, "Thank you ma'am, sir".  
  
Shrugging, I said, "So, are we gonna play or what?" Cherry grinned.  
  
"You're on." She answered.  
  
After about ten minutes of resounding thumps from our rackets, we decided to go back to the apartment for water.  
  
Walking out of the bushes that hid the clearing, we were talking about my form. Or, rather, Cherry was. Walking backwards, as she tended to do when she gave someone her full attention, she backed into a newsie, tripped over his feet, and would have fallen on her butt if he hadn't caught her arm.  
  
"Thanks." She said looking up-and the look on her face was one of the funniest I have ever seen. I could practically hear her thinking: 'Of all the newsies in Manhattan, I had to run into one-eye. WHY ME?'  
  
I think the newsie recognized her-or, at least, he gave her an all-knowing grin, and said, "No worries, sweetheart."  
  
Turning around to face me again, we walked to the apartment. Once out of earshot of the newsie, Cherry groaned.  
  
"Of all the newsies in Manhattan, WHY HIM?" she whined to me. I just shrugged, and smiled to myself. Cherry was silent all the way back to the apartment, and said she didn't feel like going back to the park afterwards.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Deciding to go to Tibby's to eat, instead of subjecting myself to Cherry's cooking, we headed there at noon.  
  
We forgot that the place was overrun by newsies, but once there, I didn't feel much like going back to the apartment. Cherry agreed, and we decided just to look inconspicuous.  
  
That vow was immediately broken when we saw an old friend.  
  
"Donny boy! What are you doin' in Manhattan?" That was Cherry, and I made a vain attempt to keep invisible.  
  
Don (now referred to only as Spot) looked surprised.  
  
"Cherry! Didn't I just talk to you yesterday? What are you doin' at Tibby's? And why is Rose here?"  
  
So much for being inconspicuous.  
  
"We could ask you the same thing, Spot." I said, glaring at who I considered to be my brother.  
  
"Who ya talkin' too, Spot?" asked Jack's voice. Coming over and seeing us, his brows knitted together, and he asked, "You're Sara's friend's, ain't ya? Whatcha doin here?"  
  
Cherry grinned cheekily, "Talking to an old friend." And she turned back to Spot, asking, "So, when did you get here? I figure you're here to talk to Jack, but why didn't you visit us?"  
  
Sitting at our booth, Spot answered, "I tried, but no one was at the apartment. I figured ya were at the park, playing tennis."  
  
I grinned. "We were, but we left to eat. Good thing you saw us here, eh?" Spot grinned , and was about to answer when another voice called him over to the table where Jack and a few other newsies were sitting.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After paying our tab, Cherry and I got up to leave, but instead of heading to the door, she walked over to the newsie's table to talk to Spot.  
  
"You'll visit later, right, Don?" she asked, and grinned when he blushed at the use of his given name.  
  
Nodding, Spot turned around to continue talking.  
  
Cherry raised an eyebrow at me as we left, and I understood the reason: What had gotten into Don, that he didn't even say goodbye?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
(Third person POV, newsie's table)  
  
Kid Blink had been talking about the girl who had run into him in the park, when Cherry came up to talk with Spot. When she left, everyone was curious about the head of Brooklyn's relationship with the girl.  
  
"How do ya know the goil, Spot?" Jack asked. "I only know her and Rose because they're Sara's friends."  
  
All eyes turned to Spot, who sighed. "I grew up with Cherry and Rose. I visit them every month, so they're pretty used to seeing me."  
  
This explanation satisfied the newsies, and they continued talking about other things.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Cherry and I stopped back at the park on the way home.  
  
"Hey, goils wait up will ya! I'm not as young as I used to be,"  
  
"Will you hurry up Spot? We haven't got all day to wait on those old bones of yours," I yelled back to the boy running up to us.  
  
"Dang, youse guys walk too fast!" Spot said when he finally caught up to us. He was only 2 years older than us, but we still made fun of him for being slow.  
  
"Man, you are still so slow!" I said when he finally caught up to us.  
  
"Hahaha. I'm not slow where me goils are concerned," he said looking over at two blonde bimbos with big racks across the street.  
  
"And here we were thinking you were running after us! You don't love us!" said Cherry, looking falsely dejected. I rolled my eyes at her. He waved to both of us as he went to go see the blonde bimbos.  
  
"Well, what's we gots here, Morris?" asked a voice from behind us.  
  
"I don't know Oscar? Looks like a couple of chicks to me. Maybe they'd like to entertain a couple of lonely boys on their night off. What da you say, goils?" Cherry and I turned around with a flirtatious look in our eyes. Cherry had decided to use the "flirt and kill" plot. I decided to do whatever came to her at the given moment.  
  
"Well, lookie here Cherry, a couple of gorgeous men looking for a lady for the night," I winked at Cherry and she got the idea. I circled the one called Oscar and ran my finger over his shoulders, Cherry did the same, but with her own twist, don't ask.  
  
"Yeah Rose. And look what muscular shoulders theyse got," Cherry was now rubbing his shoulders, and his eyes were closed, enjoying the pleasure of it. I could understand-Cherry gave really good massages, unless her nails stabbed you, which they quite often did. I hadn't noticed the gang of Newsies behind us, but I heard a few gasps and turned, they all looked at me and I smiled and winked.  
  
I leaned up to mine, just close enough to whisper, "You're a very handsome man, anything I'd do for you would be a pleasure," I had to hold myself back from cracking up. Cherry looked at me and we both nodded. We turned them around, and gave them a low punch, below the belt. There were a few 'Man!" 's from the Newsies. I pulled Oscar up.  
  
"You BASTARD! Never, ever, touch another woman again! They are too good for you!" I socked him in the jaw, which sent him to the ground. He scrambled up slowly holding his jaw, "I hope it's broken Bastard!" I yelled at him.  
  
Meanwhile, Cherry was whispering menacingly into Morris's ear. I could tell by the look of fear on his face that she was describing, in graphic detail, what she would do to him if he ever came near her again. The minute she let him go, he ran. When he caught up to Oscar they yelled to us, "You better be glad we don't hit ladies!" Oscar kind of garbled his, I think I really broke his jaw, oh well. After they said this they turned around. Jack, the guy with the cigar, one-eye, and Spot were all standing there. They turned and ran through the trees. The guys came over to us. Spot was running.  
  
"Are youse guys okay? Theyse didn't hurt ya did they?" He was looking us up and down.  
  
"Of course not. They were too busy thinking we were gonna give em' the time of their lives to notice our menacing glares." Cherry stated, winking at Spot. I just smiled. He laughed.  
  
"Yeah, the two of ya did a number on those Delancey bruddahs," said one- eye, "I'm Kid Blink, most of these guys just call me Blink though," He extended his hand to Cherry and me.  
  
"Hey, you're the guy I stole that cigarette from last night. Good smoke, where'd you get it? I haven't been able to find one of those in a long time. I'm Cherry," Cherry took his hand smiling. The gleam in his eyes showed that he liked her; the guy with the cigar was elbowed by Jack.  
  
He removed his cigar long enough to mumble, "Racetrack, call me Race," He didn't look like a pleasant fellow.  
  
"Rose here, Good cigar, how'd you get a Cuban? It was old though, 1887 if I'm correct," he looked a little startled, but still didn't answer. Two more Newsies joined them, one was leaning on a crutch.  
  
"Hiya Crutchy, Davey," Jack said nodding at the two.  
  
"Hey Davey, what are you doin' out here?" Davey was Sara's kid brother. He and I were good friends, I always thought he and Mai would be good together, but they never agreed with me. Oh well.  
  
"Hiya Rose, could someone please tell me what happened to the Delancey brothers? They were walking down the street, well more like running, Oscar was holding his Jaw and Morris looked like he'd seen a ghost," We all laughed at him. And Cherry relayed the story. David about croaked when Cherry told him what we did.  
  
"Jack? Why didn't you help them?" Davey said turning on jack who was laughing his head off.  
  
"From my view Dave, they didn't need no help. These are some tough chicks you've got here," Jack winked at us. I just shook my head, Jack had this confidence in himself that made me admire him.  
  
Why don't youse boys come to dinner at our place tonight?" Cherry was saying, mainly to Blink. I must have looked shocked because Cherry said, "Don't worry Rose, we have plenty. Hanna and Mai were staying at this house they're scoping for me for the next few days. The guy wanted to have some young girls around to make his wife mad."  
  
"I have to cook tonight! They can come, but you have to help me cook. Got it?" I was not happy, I really wasn't that fond of Newsies.  
  
"Deal. So you cumin?" she now directed her attention back to the guys. Jack looked at all of them and then nodded.  
  
"Am I invited too?" asked Spot shooting his grin at us. I just rolled my eyes in return.  
  
"I seven good for you?" asked David looking at us.  
  
"Yeah, that's fine. We normally eat around then. See you at seven?" All the guys nodded at my question.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Cherry and I were still rushing about the kitchen at 7:00; she was checking the soup, and I was making sure that the mutton was going as planned.  
  
"I think it's pretty much done" Cherry said over my shoulder, making me jump.  
  
"Geez, Cherry, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't sneak up on me like that!"  
  
At this, she grinned. "I'm a burglar," she replied, "It's my job to sneak up on people."  
  
Before I could reply, there was a knock on the door, and Cherry and I had a race to the door. I was quite proud that I beat her-until I opened the door, and realized how disheveled I must look.  
  
"You nasty CHEAT!" came Cherry's voice from behind me. "You have longer legs! It's not fair. You know it, too! Look, Spot, she's smirking. Look at her, she's smirking at her best friends predicament. Oh, I can tell when I'm being ignored. I'll just go back to the kitchen and work on the meat- I'm not sure if it's done well enough."  
  
I saw an expression of horror cross Spot's face, and I'm sure I had the same expression. Cherry would make a horrific mess of the food, and I immediately followed her.  
  
"Come on, Cherry! Greet the guests, why don't you? I'll check on the mutton."  
  
She grinned and came to the room. "It's alright. I just turned off the oven- so, how are you?"  
  
Spot looked quite relieved as he hugged her. Then, shaking hands with the other newsies (which consisted of Jack, Blink, Dave, Race, and Crutchy, as well as Spot), Spot somehow managed to hug me. Since I was in a good mood and hadn't seen him in a while, I let it slide. But, don't think I didn't notice the jealous look Blink was giving Spot when he hugged Cherry.  
  
Since I was talking to Spot about the exact form of punch I had used on Oscar, it fell to Cherry to do the hostess duties. And it fell to her to plot for the only empty seat to be in between Blink and me. The look on her face was priceless. Sort of a cross between utter joy and nervousness. And she had said she didn't like him! I love matchmaking.  
  
Of course, the newsies dug in immediately, and, looking at each other hopelessly, Cherry and I also began to eat, but with much less gusto. In fact, the only one of our guests to represent some manners was Crutchy, who I had found to be a real sweetheart.  
  
The dinner was demolished in ten minutes, while Cherry and I looked on in awe-we had only had half portions, and we both felt that we were about to pop.  
  
Finally, the dinner was over, and all 8 of us sprawled in the living room. I grinned when I noticed Blink's choice of seat-on the floor next to Cherry's hideous pink plaid chair.  
  
I had talked to most everyone, except for Race, when I noticed that he was talking to Cherry, and Blink was watching him like a hawk.  
  
Tuning into their conversation, I got the gist that Cherry was entertaining them with stories of Spot and me in our youth.  
  
"You forgot the time that you and Spot made that mud pie, and he dunked your head in it." I said, coming up behind her. Settling down next to Blink, I pretended not to notice her glare.  
  
"And I also forgot when you beat up that obnoxious girl-Janey, was her name, I think-for calling all of us street rats unworthy of living." Cherry smirked, "Actually, that's one of my happiest memories. She never messed with us after that, unless she had a larger guy with her." We both burst out in laughter at the memory.  
  
"That was almost as great as when you and Spot dated. I thought I would die laughing when you two started in on who had stolen the most food that week." I added, hoping to make Blink a bit jealous, and when he glared across the room at the leader of Brooklyn. Cherry was, as always, completely and utterly oblivious. The evening wore on. About ten a loud bang emanated from the door.  
  
"Why the hell is this locked? It's never locked! ROSE!! LET ME IN!!!" it was Blaze, she wouldn't even realize we had guests. Oh well.  
  
"Geez Cherry, why'd you have to go and lock the door? You know people show up randomly. COMING BLAZE!" I kind of wobbled to the door, my foot was asleep. I opened the door, Blaze looked like a wet rat. I guess it was raining, outside, or something. She had a giant bag with her. She walked into the kitchen threw her stuff down, and went on a spiel about how some woman had dumped a bucket of water on her. She sighed, and then stopped.  
  
"Rose, who are these people?" she whispered to me. I couldn't help it, I bust out laughing. I pointed to each one and introduced them. They all nodded, or tipped their hats. I left Blaze to bother them and help Cherry. I went to clean up. The table was a mess, there was no real reason to try to salvage anything, the guys devoured it. Every once and a while Cherry would yell something to me, but that was about it; I started washing the mountain of dishes when I heard a voice behind me.  
  
"Can I dry?" I glanced over to see Race. We really aren't on that good of terms, but I nodded.  
  
"Help yourself, You guys really enjoyed the dinner, I take?" I said trying to make some conversation.  
  
"Yeah, we rarely have that good a' cooking at the boarding house."  
  
"If ya really want good food, You should come for Lasagna sometime. I make it from scratch. Seven layers, estremamente buon!" He laughed, I'd never heard him laugh, it was nice.  
  
"Does that mean we're invited back?" he laughed, almost dropping a plate.  
  
"As long as you don't break Cherry's dishes. I'll admit, I'm not that fond of Newsies, but ya'll are okay guys. I'd be glad to have you back," I smiled at him.  
  
"HEY ROSE! GET YOUR ARSE IN HERE! BLINK'S GOT A QUESTION?" Cherry yelled, Race and I headed in.  
  
"Waddah ya want Blink?"  
  
"How'd you get Oscar's pocket watch while you was 'flirting' with him," they all raised their eyebrows at me expecting an answer.  
  
"I'm good, my job got the better of me. I got a good thirty bucks outa that thing," I took a swig of Cherry's lemonade. They were all staring at me like they didn't expect me to admit it. I didn't care.  
  
"You're good, man, that's talent!" Race was looking dumbfounded at me. I'd taken his cigar earlier and pulled it out of my pocket right then, took the light Cherry handed me, we had this ability to know when and what the other wanted. I've never actually seen anyone do a double take, but Race did. He was talking to Jack, looked at me, back to Jack, and almost gave himself whiplash for swinging his head around that fast. I just laughed, what else could I do? He was staring at me with this crazy look on his face. "Is dat me cigar? I just had it when we was washing dishes, how'd you get it?" he still had that crazy look on his face.  
  
"It's my job Race," I winked at him causing the whole room to crash down in giggles.  
  
A/N: Well, that's chapter 2, now REVIEW OR ANSWER TO ME! 


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